Always (NejiTen)

III

Tenten's breath created a small cloud in the cool morning air. Snow was falling lightly from the sky. She started to walk up the hill towards the graveyard. A tall figure stood atop the hill, blocking her view.

The sun shined onto the person's face. Tenten's face lit up when she saw them.

"Kiba!" she exclaimed.

Kiba put his hand behind his head and smiled, walking towards Tenten. She ran up the hill to greet him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Oh my Kami! I can't believe you're back! I've missed you so much!" Tenten said with a few tears forming in her eyes. Kiba had been on a confidential mission for the past month. He has left soon after the war ended. Kiba had once shown interest in Tenten when they were younger, but now he acts more like her over protective older brother.

Kiba chuckled, "Yeah, I got back late last night from the mission. Ino told me that you came here just about every day, so I wanted to surprise you."

Tenten laughed and hugged him tighter before letting him go. "I'm just so glad that you're back."
Kiba ruffled her hair, and Tenten swatted his hand away. There was an unnatural silence between them that lasted for a few minutes. Eventually, Kiba cleared his throat and spoke, "So... How are you doing?"

His voice was slightly darker compared to the rest of their conversation beforehand, and Tenten could easily understand the true meaning of his words.

She brightened her smile and looked him in the eye. "I'm doing good. Much better than before," she thought back to her hysterics in the days following Neji's death, "but I mean what about you? You're the one who was gone for a month." She asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

Kiba saw right through her. "Tenten stop lying to me," he deadpanned.

She sighed. "I'm doing well. That's the truth."

"I think you're forgetting how well I can read you. Tenten, when was the last time you had a full meal?"

She shuffled her feet, he gaze not meeting his. "Wednesday," she mumbled.

"Today's Sunday. Are you telling me you haven't eaten in four days?" Kiba said with worry in his voice.

Tenten looked up at him and sighed. "Well I mean I want to, but nothing that I eat in large portions will stay down. In the end I still end up with an empty stomach, but I've gotten used to it,"

Kiba kissed her forehead and murmured, "I know there's nothing that I could do or say to make you feel better but you know I would if I could. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will. I promise."

Tenten nodded and said her goodbyes, continuing on to Konoha's cemetery. She did her normal routine, put the flower on his grave and relight the candle that's there. Then she would talk to him, sometimes she would be there for hours, just chatting on like nothing as happened. But eventually the painfulness of having no response got to her and she would leave.

She then made her way over to the training grounds, hoping to start getting back into the routine of training to make good on her promise. The memories of training with Neji and Lee were still fresh in her mind.

Tenten's P.O.V

     I sat down, panting with sweat dripping down my forehead. Rock Lee was standing  across from me at the training grounds.

    "Come on Tenten! You cannot have given up already! It is the springtime of youth!" Lee said enthusiastically.

     Our team doesn't go out on missions together as much anymore as we used to when we were Genin, but we still enjoy training together. I had been sparring with Lee for a while now and was getting tired. Neji watched from the sidelines with an amused look. I glared at him.

     He walked over to me and held out his hand to help me up. I grabbed it and stood up, brushing myself off. Lee started barreling towards with a sneak attack. Neji grabbed me by the waist and pulled me up against him, I just slightly missed being run over by Lee. Blood rushed to my cheeks when I realized what position we were in and I could practically feel sparks dancing at where our skin touched. I cleared my throat and looked up at Neji. He was glaring at Lee with his arm still wrapped around me.

     "U-um Neji?" I said

     He looked down at me, and said, "What?"

     "Uh you can let go now." I told him.

Something flashed in his eyes that I couldn't identify, but he let me go nonetheless. After getting my heart rate back down to its normal speed (it had been racing while I was in Neji's arms), I brushed myself off and looked over at Neji, who quickly turned away after noticing I was looking at him. I had millions of questions. Why is Neji acting strange (well stranger than usual)? Had that random moment meant something? Why did I wish it did? Why was his first thought to pull me to him instead of just pushing me out of the way? And why had it felt so good?

     She shook the thoughts from her head. Damn Hyuga, she thought.

         Tenten walked over to the wooden post in the middle of the training grounds. She pulled out a piece of chalk and drew a target on it, then stepped ten paces back. By now, the scroll full of kunai was already in her hand. With a flick of her wrist, the knife was sent flying towards the post. It stuck loosely on the top edge of the target. With a sigh, Tenten grabbed another kunai and prepared to try again.

With a deep breath, the target was locked in her vision. Tenten pulled her arm back, and then let the kunai shoot forward with her arm, releasing it at the last second. The small knife stuck to the target, but this time much too low than it should have been.

"It's not going to hit the target if you don't believe it will," a deep voice behind Tenten scoffed.

Tenten froze. She knew that voice. Too well. She pivoted on her heels, kunai in hand, preparing to throw.

"Neji?"

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Sorry I'm a piece of trash and haven't like updated this since summer ^\/^

Ive been pretty busy but I'm hoping to have a decent update schedule now that the holidays are over. I'll probably aim towards updating once or twice a week, usually on weekends.

P.S the last few updates haven't been really updates. I originally had this all in one chapter like a little one-shot thing, but I decided to make them separate chapters and make the story longer than I originally planned so... But I've added some stuff to each of the chapters that wasn't there before so yeaaa. Bye yall love you

-Jaxxi <3